MissouriLife Magazine December 2017/January2018

Page 55

O’Malley’s Pub & Weston Brewing Company

Weston | 500 Welt Street • 816-640-5235 • WestonIrish.com/omalleys-pub In many ways, Weston was the town

Irish Pub. O’Malley’s calls itself a

precise temperature control during

that almost was. The golden days

pub—not an all-purpose tavern— but

the brewing process. The slaves who

of Weston were between 1837 and

its rich history is worth including.

built the cellars left hatch marks that

1860 when it was the last stop before

German immigrant John Geor-

are still visible in the stones. Usually,

the great wilderness of the western

gian built the lagering cellars that

Georgian paid the slaves a salary for

frontier. Before the fickle Missou-

house the underground pub in 1842.

their work and even used the cellars

ri River shifted its banks in another

Constructed of hand-cut stones, the

as part of the Underground Railroad,

direction, it was the second-largest

vaulted cellars of Weston Brewing

where runaways mingled with his

city in Missouri.

Company were dug 58 to 60 feet

enslaved people until they could get

There is no more unique bar in

into the earth and were among the

away safely.

Missouri—if not the whole of the

first lagering cellars in the nation.

Over the years, the cellars have

Midwest—than

Brewing

Using ice from frozen rivers in the

changed hands and have served many

Company, also known as O’Malley’s

winter, the buried cellars allowed for

uses. At one time, the bottom cellar

Weston

was used to house hogs; another time it was a sort of city dump. A fire claimed the lives of several people in 1860, and it’s rumored their ghosts haunt the underground. Staff might tell you that the cellars are haunted, and some employees are reticent to walk the tunnels alone. The old vaulted ceilings of the bar curve down, adorned with antique pageantry. The high ceiling offers great acoustics. Musicians such as Bob Reeder, an Irish folk singer, often play in the large vault. The bar today features a selection of Irish whiskey, as well as a wide range of beer brewed on-site, cocktails, and wine. The kitchen offers sandwiches, nachos, burgers, and EVAN HENNINGSEN

bangers. History and beer fans can go on brewery tours, available three times an afternoon on Saturdays. Tour reservations are encouraged.

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